Application of GPS in Mining

Sohil Bakshi
Department of Mining Engineering IIT (BHU) Varanasi, India
Sohil.bakshi.min10@iitbhu.ac.in

Abstract In this article we study the applications of global positioning system in surveying as well as safety operations in mining industry. The application of GPS in the mining industry has been derived from the case study of various mines all over the world. The study also outlines the working mechanism of real time kinematic global positioning system and how it can be used in the mines to increase accuracy and efficiency in mining. Keywords GPS. RTK GPS, Mining, Surveying, Mining safety

received from the satellite. However, whilst this eliminates the problem of the need for an expensive receiver clock, it does not eliminate the problem of exact synchronization of the two clocks. Thus, the time difference between the two clocks, termed clock bias, results in an incorrect assessment of TD. The distances computed are therefore called pseudo ranges. The use of four satellites rather than three, however, can eliminate the effect of clock bias.

I. INTRODUCTION This GPS is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. The GPS was conceived as a military adjunct but has shown a significant potential to benefit the mining industry in an increasingly large variety of applications. II. BASIC PRINCIPLE OF POSITION FIXING GPS works on the basic principle of triangulation. It requires a simultaneous visibility of a minimum of three satellites. Position fixing in three dimensions may involve the measurement of distance (or range) to at least three satellites whose X, Y and Z position is known, in order to define the users Xp, Yp and Zp position. . In its simplest form, the satellite transmits a signal on which the time of its departure (tD) from the satellite is modulated. The receiver in turn notes the time of arrival (tA) of this time mark. Then the time which it took the signal to go from satellite to receiver is (tA tD) = TC called the delay time. The measured range R is obtained from R1 = (tA tD) c = Tc Where c = the velocity of light. To eliminate the need for perfect synchronization of satellite clock and user clock, the pseudo-random binary codes (P or C/A), usually C/A, is adopted. The signal from the satellite arrives at the receiver and triggers the receiver to commence generating its own internal copy of the C/A code. The receiver-generated code is cross-correlated with the satellite code. The ground receiver is then able to determine the time delay (TD) since it generated the same portion of the code

III. CARRIER PHASE TRACKING Real Time Kinematic follows the same general concept as the traditional GPS, but uses the satellite signal's carrier wave as its signal, ignoring the information contained within. The improvement possible using this signal is potentially very high if one continues to assume 1% accuracy in locking. For instance, in the case of GPS, the coarse-acquisition (C/A) code (broadcast in the L1 signal) changes phase at 1.023 MHz, but the L1 carrier itself is 1575.42 MHz, over a thousand times more often. The carrier frequency corresponds to a wavelength of 19 cm for the L1 signal. A 1% error in L1 carrier phase measurement thus corresponds to a 1.9 mm error in baseline estimation.

The difficulty in making an RTK system is properly aligning the signals. The navigation signals are deliberately encoded in order to allow them to be aligned easily, whereas every cycle of the carrier is similar to every other. This makes it extremely difficult to know if you have properly aligned the signals or if they are "off by one" and are thus introducing an error of 20 cm, or a larger multiple of 20 cm. This integer ambiguity problem can be addressed to some degree with sophisticated statistical methods that compare the measurements from the C/A signals and by comparing the resulting ranges between multiple satellites. However, none of these methods can reduce this error to zero. IV. APPLICATIONS OF GPS IN MINING INDUSTRY A. Surveying Most mines now use RTK GPS systems for surveying. GPS considerably speeds up the surveying process and reduces the time surveyors are in the field often in vulnerable locations. For example, because the GPS system gives an absolute position, the tedious process of establishing field control points is entirely eliminated. B. High Precision Machine

onto the void it will collapse and potentially cause a very serious accident. The GPS system warns the operator when he is getting close to the feeder position.

D. Digital terrain modelling Digital Terrain Model (DTM) is three-dimensional show of surface. Not only coordinates and altitudes but geographical and natural characters in surfaces should be known for this show. Land modeling is made definition, sensing and application in land. Appropriateness of DTM to topography depends on based gathering of base points which model is based on sufficient frequency and feature. Base points could be determined by various measurement methods. Real Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS is one of these methods.

Control

Many mines have started to fit high precision guidance systems to their mining equipment. The guidance system can be installed in dozers and shovels. The Collinsville Coal Mine, owned by Xstrata Coal and operated by Thiess Contractors is a mixed coking and thermal surface coal mine in northern Queensland. The nature of dozer stripping is such that a certain amount of rehandle is inevitable. Because of the geometry of the pit, every 1 metre error in locating the correct coal edge leads to 16 cubic metres of unnecessary rehandle per linear metre of pit if the error is too far on the spoil side. Overburden moved in 12 pits dug prior to GPS guidance amounted to 3.2 million cubic metres and showed an average 3.86% of overdig and 1.82% of underdig. Following the introduction of guidance three pits containing 1.5 million cubic metres of excavator dug overburden showed an average overdig of 0.99% and underdig of 0.93%. The reduction in overdig was sufficient to pay for the systems within a few months. C. Hazard Avoidance GPS systems can be set up to warn the operator of site hazards. For example a hazard Warning system has been set up as a trial on a dozer at the Gladstone Port Authority. Coal from the stockpile is reclaimed through feeders under the stockpile. The dozers push the coal into the feeders. Sometimes the coal bridges, creating a void above the feeder. If the dozer ventures

Fig. 1

DTM obtained from classical measurements and RTK GPS

Instant and definite measurements could be obtained when RTK GPS method is used detailed points constituting of DTM could be measured more swiftly and truly than classical measurements. E. Truck Fleet Management Many mines are fitting GPS systems to their trucks for fleet management purposes. Trucks can be assigned to different loading machines in real time to improve overall efficiency. A side safety benefit is that the central control station knows at all times the whereabouts of each truck in the fleet. Stand alone GPS is generally adequate for this task.

V. RELIABILITY The GPS system has been in place for a long period of time and has come to be relied on for many commercial purposes. On May 1st 2000, President Clinton removed the intentional degradation of GPS signals known as Selective Availability. A repeated theme of Presidential decrees on GPS has been to "encourage acceptance and integration of GPS into peaceful civil, commercial and scientific applications worldwide; and to encourage private sector investment in and use of U.S. GPS technologies and services." It is unlikely that the US will re-impose Selective Availability or otherwise disrupt the GPS system. The use of reference stations in either DGPS or RTK effectively negates the effects of Selective Availability. VI. NUMBER OF SATELLITES Four satellites are necessary in order to obtain a fix in three dimensions. For high precision RTK operation five satellites are necessary. With the current constellation of 28 GPS satellites, there are rare occasions when only three are visible and almost daily occurrences of only four visible GPS satellites. This applies to a receiver on a flat plain which has an unobstructed view of the full sky.. In a pit where part of the sky is obscured by the pit walls, satellite availability may prevent 24 hour continuous coverage. There are four potential means of overcoming this shortcoming: A. Planning: It is quite easy to predict the periods of low satellite availability or when particular areas in the pit will be blocked from sufficient satellites. Using this information, activities can be scheduled around the down times. This is quite practical for surveying applications, less satisfactory for machine guidance and not at all acceptable for safety applications. B. Other satellites: As well as the US NAVSTAR system, the Russians have a GPS navigation system too known as

GLONASS. GLONASS was originally launched in the early 1980s for the military forces of the USSR. It has had mixed fortunes over the years, but the Russians are now actively funding it. GLONASS currently has only nine active satellites, but more are being launched and the system is planned to reach its full constellation of 24 satellites in 2005. Some GPS receivers can access both sets of satellites, giving a total constellation of thirty seven. Dual access, while not guaranteeing 100% availability goes a long way towards it. The chart in figure 4 shows how the GLONASS satellites fill in the gaps left by the NAVSTAR satellites. The European Space Agency is also planning a GPS network to be known as Galileo. The Galileo system will have a similar number of satellites to Navstar and is planned to be operational in 2008. It is not yet known whether the Europeans will levy a charge for the use of their system. Receivers capable of seeing the 72 satellites from all three systems would be continuously available for high precision positioning in all but the deepest and steepest sided of pits.

VII.

CONCLUSIONS

The GPS survey and machine guidance applications are finding increasing acceptance in the mining industry. Widespread adoption of this technology has important safety benefits as a byproduct. In addition there are a number of applications where GPS systems may be fitted for primary safety purposes. Lack of satellites is the major problem to be overcome, but there are a number of possible solutions and more will be available in the future. ACKNOWLEDGMENT I wish to acknowledge the contribution of Prof. Sanjay Kumar Sharma for his able guidance. He has been a indefatigable mentor throughout the writing of this paper. I would also like to acknowledge the internet which possesses the vast knowledge of any sundry topic in the world. Last but not the least I would like to thanks Microsoft corps for their MS Word software which has provided as simple medium to present this paper in front of the world. REFERENCES
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